Filter and cooler for smoking devices



'March 10, 1953 F. E. NULL FILTER AND COOLER EOR SMOKING nEvIcEs Filed March 14, 1949 Het `-|IN VEN TOR.

Patented Mar. 10, 1953 OFFICE FILTER AND COOLER FOR SMOKING DEVICES Fay E. Null, Dayton, Ohio Application March 14, 1949, Serial No. 81,246

4 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved .apparatus for ltering and cooling smoke with particular reference to its use with a pipe or cigarette holder. The apparatus is of the liquid reservoir type, the combustion products from the pipe bowl being compelled to impinge upon a liquid surface which adsorbs and absorbs much of the tar products, the smoke being further cooled by contact with exposed metal parts before it is exhausted through the pipe stem.

The principal objects of the invention are, to filter and cool the smoke by impingement of the smoke stream on a tar adsorbing and absorbing liquid and cool metal surfaces without the offensive gurgling that accompanies lters vin which the gas bubbles through the liquid, to provide valves at the inlet and outlet of the reservoir that will allow the pipe to be carried in the pocket without the liquid getting into the inlet and outlet tubes, thus preventing the liquid from being carried into the mouth of the smoker when the valves are open for smoking, convenient operation ofthe valves by rotation of the pipe stem, and convenient arrangement of the parts for cleanmg.

More specifically, the invention relates to a liquid reservoir that may be mounted on the pipe barrel, an inlet tube with an attached jet nozzle that directs relatively high velocity gas and smoke billowing over the surface of the absorbing liquid and then in turbulent heat exchange with the cool walls of the reservoir and through the outlet nozzle and out of the normal pipe stem. The inlet and outlet tubes are connected to the pipe barrel by rotatable parts comprising an extension of the pipe stem, the above parts making a rotata-ble nt with a cylindrical lining of the pipe barrel- The liquid is prevented from entering the inlet and outlet tubes of the reservoir by the jet nozzles attached to their ends which are coated with a material that the liquid does not wet. Liquid films do not cling to the nozzles because of the non-wetting characteristic of the nozzle coatings.

To illustrate the `above indicated features or my invention, reference may be had to the accon 1 panying drawings Yforming a part of this application, in which the invention is applied to a pipe, but is not limited to pipes, as it could lbe applied in an identical manner to a cigarette holder or to any apparatus requiring a smoke filter.

Fig. l is a vertical section through line I-I of Fig. 4 of the entire pipe assembly arranged for smoking; Fig. 2 shows a veit-ical section with the pipe Stem rotated through degrees with respect to its position in Fig. 1, with the liquid reservoir shut off from the bowl and mouthpiece portions kof the pipe proper in the condition for carrying the pipe in the pocket; Fig. 3 shows a vertical section of the valve cylinder on the end of the pipe stem which is removed from the pipe barrel proper; Fig. 4 shows a top view of the entire pipe assembly with a horizontal section of the liquid reservoir through line 4-4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical section and Fig. 5 is a bottom view of the jet nozzle in the liquid reservoir.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts in all of the gures of the drawing.

In Fig. 1, cylindrical valve lining I has been press tted into the pipe barrel 2. Tubes 3 and i pass through the walls of the pipe barrel 2 and valve lining I, and carry the liquid reservoir 5. Smoke from the pipe bowl B passes through the pipe assembly as shown by the arrows. From the bowl 6 it enters the valve cylinder 'l attached to the end of the pipe stem 8. The smoke is blocked by plug 9 in cylinder 'I and sucked through tube 3, through elbow I0 secured to tube 3 by rubber tube II, through jet nozzle I2 in nozzle plug I3 which is press tted into the end of elbow I0. The plug I3 has a liltering act-ion in view of the narrow throat 24. After expansion from the jet nozzle I2, the smoke and tar vapors strike the adsorbent and/or absorbent liquid VI4 with relatively high velocity and spread over the surface I5 of the liquid I4, the tar vapors being adsorbed and absorbed, and the smoke cooled by contact with the liquid I4 and also by the walls of the reservoir 5 as it slowly circulates up to the jet plug I6, through the inverted jet nozzle I'I and the .elbow I8 seured to tube 4 by rubber tube I9 and into the channel o r bore `22 of the valve .cylinder l'I and out through pipe stem S. The function of the jet plug I6 will be described later.

To carry the pipe in the pocket the stern 8 is rotated, e. g., through 90 degrees, as in Fig. 2, so that the iholes 2.0 and 2| in the valve cylinder 'I 11.0 llger line up With the tubes 3 and 4 respectively. The tubes 3 and 4 are thus effectively sealed oi from the pipe bore 22 as the valve cylinder I has a-rotatable air tight fit in the cylindrical lining I.

When the pipe is turned sideways or upside down .in the pocket the liquid I4 is prevented from entering the tubes 3 and 4 by jet plugs I3 and I6. Fig. 5 shows the convex meniscus 23 of liquid I4 facing toward the throat 24 of the jet nozzle I2. The walls 25 of plug I3 are coated with a non-wettable material to repel the liquid from said nozzle and thus tend to stop the liquid flow therein. Similarly, the walls of plug IG are coated with a non-Wettable material.

To use the pipe after carrying in a pocket, it is placed in the normal smoking position (reser- Voir vertical) and the stem 8 rotated back to the position in Fig. 1 so that the tubes 3 and 4 are again connected to the pipe bore 22. The liquid then drops out of nozzle I2 and a slight puff into the pipe stem 8 drives out the small drop of liquid in nozzles I'I.

It is necessary to prevent a film of liquid I4 from clinging to the jet nozzles I2 and I1. Other- Wise, blowing or sucking will force the liquid film into one of the throats 24 blocking the gas flow until sufficient pressure is exerted by the smoker to force it either into the pipe bowl wetting the tobacco, or into the pipe stem and mouth of the smoker.

To prevent a lm of the liquid I 4 from clinging to the jet nozzles I2 and II, these nozzles are coated as illustrated in Fig. 5 with a film'25 that the liquid I4 does not Wet, e. g., if water were used for the liquid I4, the lm 25 might be formed by a wax dip as in paraflin. The iilm 25 is not shown on the nozzles I2 and I'I of Figure 1 in view of the small size and to avoid confusion.

The top section 26 of the reservoir 5 can be readily removed from the threaded lower section by unscrewing it at thread 28 for replacing the jet plugs I3 and IB after partial clogging from extension use, and the rubber tubes II and IS may then be removed for occasional cleaning of the small tubes 3 and 4.

Although the above drawings illustrate the application of my invention to a pipe, it could be applied to a cigarette holder in exactly the same manner, the bowl of the pipe being replaced by a tip to hold the cigarette.

I am aware that prior to my invention lters and coolers have been incorporated in pipes and cigarette holders and do not claim such a combination broadly, but I claim:

l. In a smoke iilter and cooler for a smoking accessory, the combination of, a pipe bowl provided with a channel leading therefrom, an air tight valve member communicating with said channel, a reservoir inlet tube communicating with said valve member, a liquid reservoir connected to said inlet tube, a plug in the outlet end of said inlet tube having a jet nozzle with a nozzle mouth Whose plane is approximately parallel to an adsorbing liquid surface in said reservoir, said nozzle mouth being of small width in comparison to said inlet tube to produce a relatively high velocity flow to insure intimate contact with the adsorbing liquid surface, the jet nozzle having a narrow nozzle throat, nozzle sides smoothly diverging outward from the throat to produce a smooth lateral flow of smoke over the entire surface of the adsorbent liquid, an outlet tube in communication with said reservoir, a plug in the reservoir end of the outlet tube, a jet nozzle in the plug for further filtering the smoke passing therethrough, a nozzle mouth narrow relative to the outlet tube, a channel in said valve member conducting the smoke from said outlet tube, and a pipe stem connecting with said last-mentioned channel.

2. In a smoke filter and cooler for a smoking accessory, the combination of, a liquid reservoir, inlet and outlet tubes for the passage of smoke through said reservoir, an inlet jet nozzle on the outlet end of the inlet tube having inlet nozzle sides divergent toward the liquid reservoir sulface so as to produce a smooth laterally spreading flow of smoke over the adsorbent liquid, an inlet nozzle mouth small in diameter compared with the inlet tube to produce a sufciently high velocity IloW to 'spread over the entire surface of the adsorbent liquid, an outlet jet nozzle on the reservoir end of the outlet tube small in diameter relative to said outlet tube, and non-wettable coatings on said nozzles so that liquid splashed into the nozzles will form menisci concave toward the reservoir to repel the liquid from said nozzles and thus tend to stop the liquid flow therein.

3. In a smoke filter and cooler for a smoking accessory, the combination of, a liquid reservoir, inlet and outlet tubes connected to said reservoir, an inlet nozzle on the ,reservoir end of said inlet tube, inlet nozzle Walls smoothly divergent toward the liquid surface in said reservoir to produce a smooth lateral spreading of the smoke jet over the adsorbent liquid surface, an inlet nozzle mouth small in diameter relative to said inlet tube to produce a jet of suiicient velocity to maintain its flow over the entire surface of the adsorbent liquid, an outlet nozzle on said outlet tube, nozzle walls on said outlet nozzle that diverge toward said reservoir, nonewettable coatings on said inlet and outlet nozzles to coact with said nozzle walls divergent toward said reservoir liquid to repel the liquid from said nozzles and thus tend to stop the liquid flow therein, and air tight inlet and outlet valves for said inlet and outlet tubes.

e. In a iilter and cooler for a smoking acces sory, the combination of, a liquid reservoir, a smoke inlet tube, a smoke outlet tube, gas tight inlet and outlet valves comprising a rotatable mouth-piece stem, ports carried by said rotatable stem to register and not to register with said inlet and outlet tubes, said rotatable stem thereby being adapted to open or close said tubes, a plus positioned in said stem between said ports to force the smoke flow to detour through said reservoir when said ports register with said inlet and outlet tubes, a plug having a jet nozzle on the reservoir end of said inlet tube, a narrow throat on the inlet jet nozzle for filtering action, a non- Wettable coating on the nozzle surfaces, nozzle sides smoothly divergent toward the adsorbent liquid surface to produce smooth lateral now of the smoke over the adsorbent liquid, a nozzle mouth smaller in diameter than that of the inlet tube to produce a relatively high velocity jet to insure good circulation of the smoke over the surface of the liquid and the Walls of the reservoir, a plug having a jet nozzle on the outlet tube removed from the liquid surface, such last mentioned plug having a narrow nozzle throat to produce filtering action, nozzle walls smoothly divergent from said nozzle throat, a nozzle mouth small in diameter in comparison with the outlet tube to provide surface tension action in the last mentioned nozzle to prevent leakage, a nonwettable coating ori the walls of the last mentioned nozzle to repel the liquid from said nozzle and thus tend to stop flow therein, a cylindrical removable reservoir top to permit replacing the jet nozzle plugs, and a threaded base portion on said cylindrical top to engage threads on the other part of said reservoir.

Y FAY E. NULL.

(References on following page) 6 REFERENCES CITED FOREIGN PATENTS The following references are of record in the Number Country Date file of this patent: 4,436 Great Britain of 1911 15,178 Great Britain of 1885 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 18,854 Great Britain of 1914 Number Nane Date 260,401 Great Britain Nov. 4, 1926 '705193 AuStWlCk July 221 1902 311,561 Great Britain May 16, 1929 745,308 Ede-CIBIldlnIlen DSC. 8, 1903 797,941 France Feb' 24, 1936 1,605,059 Oakes et al. Nov. 2, 1926 1,690,609 Zane Nov. 6, 1928 10 OTHER REFERENCES 1,921,073 England Aug. 8, 1933 Text-Book of Physical Chemistry, by S. 1,940,075 Caldwell Dec. 19, 1933 Glasstone Van Nostrand & Co.; 1940, pages 474 2,306,222 Patnode Dec. 22, 1942 and 475. 2,360,513 OHalloran Oct. 17, 1944 y2,469,729 Hunter May 10, 1949 15 

